Air India did not transfer profitable routes to private carriers in 3 years

New Delhi: Air India has not transferred any route to private airlines in the last three years and the national carrier's liabilities have been on the rise, government on Tuesday said in Rajya Sabha.

"Air India did not transfer any domestic or international routes to any private airlines during the last three years," Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju said during Question Hour.

"No airline transfers its route to any other airline," he added.

As Rajiv Shukla (Cong) alleged that the transfer of routes had found mention in an earlier report of Air India itself, the Minister said,” I am not trying to mislead this August House (with my answer)."

To a separate question on whether the route transfer has impacted the profitability of the carrier, Pusapati answered in the negative, saying no route transfer took place. However, the Minister pointed out that the liabilities of Air India were increasing, but did not give any details on the airline's current liabilities.